Klopp baffled as VAR bizarrely rules out Harvey Elliott’s sweet strike at Burnley

Liverpool were nearly castigated by VAR again but end Boxing Day top of the table in spite of having two goals ruled out at Burnley.

It’s safe to say that Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool have had some strange VAR calls in their the Premier League outings as we reach the midway point of the campaign. In September, a mix-up in the VAR room meant that Luis Díaz had a goal chalked off against Spurs - for which the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) had to admit was an error and issued an apology. Tonight at Turf Moor, Klopp’s team had the ball in the back of the net four times but only have of the counted. Fans were left scratching their heads at why first-half effort from Cody Gakpo and another just after the break from Harvey Elliott were subjected to scrutiny by VAR, then not given.

Gakpo’s didn’t stand for an alleged foul by Darwin Núñez in the build-up. On 53 minutes, Elliott stuck out a foot to steer the ball inside the near post after a one-two with Gravenberch. Again, the move was reviewed by referee Paul Tierney for a possible offside. After studying the footage, a decision was made - no goal. The player who was offside and obstructing the keeper’s view was Mohamed Salah - only because he had been shoved offside by Jordan Beyer as the ball was played.

Klopp was inevitably asked about Elliott’s disallowed goal in his pitchside interview. “Only somebody who never played football can make that an offside call. But they will tell us again, it’s an offside situation or whatever. It’s too often now, he looked at it for five minutes, it’s insane. If you’ve ever played football, then it can happen - ‘Oh, the offside rule, let me see, page 7... There’s somebody between him and the goalie’,” he told TNT Sports pundits